Ahmedabad: Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi on April 9 chided Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump on Indian imports. “Where is Modi hiding?” he asked, while recalling how Modi used to boast about his friendship with Trump.
Addressing the AICC Session here today, Gandhi in his characteristic style ripped apart the BJP-RSS’ polarising agenda, alleging that all the BJP workers were full of hatred. He quoted the recent incident in Rajasthan involving the CLP leader Tika Ram Jully’s visit to a temple, which was later washed by one of the BJP leaders, because Jully belongs to the Dalit community.
Gandhi also said that the Waqf Bill passed recently by the BJP government in the parliament was an attack on the freedom of religion. He also quoted the RSS mouthpiece Organiser, saying their next target was the Christians’ lands across the country. “The Waqf Bill is anti-constitution and against the freedom of religion”, he remarked, while warning that even the Sikhs were in line to be targeted by the BJP.
The Congress leader maintained that it was the battle of ideologies between the BJP-RSS on the one side and the Congress on the other side. He said, only the Congress can defeat the BJP-RSS and no other party can do it. Because, he explained, the Congress has an ideology, which is enshrined in the constitution of the country.
He accused the BJP government of attacking the constitution and the constitutional institutions every day. He said, since the BJP cannot do it openly, they were doing it with a hidden agenda.
The Congress leader pointed out that the RSS did not accept the constitution and the day it was adopted it held a protest in Ramlila Maidan in Delhi where the RSS activists burnt the copies of the constitution.
Gandhi reiterated and reaffirmed his party’s commitment to carry out the caste census in the country. He quoted the example of Telangana, where the party government has carried out a caste census. He disclosed that the caste census had revealed that 90 percent of the population there, which included the Dalits, OBCs, Adivasis, minorities and poor from the general castes had no say anywhere. He said, Telangana like situation prevailed in every state. He said, the situation can be rectified only through caste census which is like the social X-ray of the country. He said, the caste census is not merely the counting of people, but it also tells the level and share of their participation in the decision-making process.
The senior Congress leader also reaffirmed that his party will do away with the 50 percent bar on the reservation. He said, the Congress government had already done it in Telangana by raising the reservation of OBCs to 42 percent.
Gandhi referred to the privatisation of Public Sector Undertakings, which used to provide jobs to lakhs of people. He said, these were being handed over to people like Adani and Ambani. He alleged that everything like ports, airports, cement industry, defence industry and other things were being handed over to Adani.
Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s boastful claims of describing the US President Donald Trump as his friend, he asked, what happened to that friendship. He reminded people of the earlier pictures of Modi hugging Trump, while there were no such hugs during his recent US visit. Instead, he pointed out, this time Trump slapped tariffs on India and Modi did not even utter a word.
Gandhi warned that there was going to be economic turmoil in view of the tariffs. He apprehended that crores of people may lose jobs while the unemployment was already highest in the last fifty years. He wondered, where was Modi hiding?
Exhorting the party workers to be battle ready, he said, change is in the air. He said, people are fed up with the BJP. Suggesting that the BJP won the Maharashtra election by manipulation, he said, ask the people of Maharashtra how the BJP won there. He said the Election Commission of India was still not able to provide the Maharashtra voter list to the Congress.
Gandhi made a special mention of the District Congress Committees and their presidents, saying they will be empowered with more powers and responsibility. “They will be made the foundation of the Congress party”, he emphasised.
